Mental health helpline to close as Government cuts £1m funding
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Your support makes all the difference.Thousands of Britain's most desperate and isolated people will be deprived of access to the country's largest mental health helpline after a £1m cut in government funding.
Saneline, run by the charity Sane, is being forced to close two of its three national centres, with the loss of 127 trained volunteers and 13 full-time staff. The charity currently answers 1,000 calls a week from those in distress. Demand is such it could cater for another 11,000 calls if it had the means.
Last night Marjorie Wallace, the chief executive of Sane, described the Government's decision as "extraordinary".
"We are very sad and disappointed to have to take this step," Ms Wallace said.
The loss of Department of Health funding will mean the closure at the end of March of the charity's offices in Bristol and Macclesfield, leaving only a helpline based in London up and running.
Ms Wallace added: "This comes at a time when the number of attempted calls to Saneline has recently doubled, and we anticipate more calls from those affected psychologically by the recent disaster in South-east Asia."
Two years ago, Independent on Sunday readers raised more than £30,000 for Saneline when it was this newspaper's nominated Christmas charity. Our campaign was backed by a number of celebrities, including Joanna Lumley, Boy George, Ned Sherrin and Juliet Stevenson.
Saneline, the only helpline of its kind to be open every day of the year, costs around £1.3m to run annually. It had previously been under a two-year government contract, worth £1m a year, to provide the service. But Ms Wallace said that even that money - legally owed to the charity by the Government - had not been forthcoming of late.
"This latest announcement follows the Government's unexplained 10-month delay in failing to honour its contract to fund Saneline's service," Ms Wallace said. "This delay has eroded our reserves. We have been performing a service to their specification which has not been paid for."
Since its establishment in 1992, the helpline has attracted praise from a number of prominent supporters, including the Prince of Wales and Cherie Blair. At a Downing Street reception in 2002 the latter said Saneline should be thanked for its "formidable achievements".
Ms Wallace said the charity would now be launching a nationwide appeal in an attempt to secure alternative funding.
"The need for Saneline is more than proven by the level of demand," Ms Wallace said. "We have already begun receiving calls from people who rely on us and are now very frightened."
To support Saneline, call 020 7422 5544, or visit www.sane.org.uk
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